There are several stories waiting to be written about how Albemarle County uses both its designated growth area as well as rural lands. I’ve been writing such stories for nearly 20 years and hope to do so for another 20. Soon-to-be-written segments include summaries of work sessions on the most recent draft of the Comprehensive Plan update as well as the Board of Supervisors’ review of a build-out analysis.
But this story takes a long look at one particular item on one particular agenda of the Albemarle Planning Commission. On September 9, six of the seven members held a public hearing on Riverbend Development’s request to rezone land very close to the intersection of Interstate-64 and U.S 29 to the southwest of Charlottesville. The land is within the growth area.
In all, Riverbend is seeking rezoning of about 62 acres of land to the Neighborhood Model District, a category created in the early 2000’s to encourage dense development in the county’s urban areas. Around a third of the land is zoned Highway Commercial and the rest is zoned Residential-1.
“Right now, the R-1 property could yield anywhere from 43 to 68 dwelling units,” said Cameron Langille, a principal planner with the county. The land zoned Highway Commercial would need a special use permit and could have between 279 and 373 units…